I largely agree, but...
I guess that one complication is that music as a medium is such a powerful emotive force in itself. To give an example, I have quite a few chairs in my house. One was handmade using a really interesting method by someone I've met. I therefore appreciate it as something with a history into which someone put a lot of themselves in terms of time, imagination, energy etc. The rest of them are just places to put my arse and I don't think about them much as long as they keep it off the floor.

With music I do appreciate songs more if I know that the musician has put more of themselves into it. Whether it be purely emotionally or through their desire to create something technically amazing or novel. But even shitty mass produced music can still make me feel sad/happy/energized/angry etc. if it has the right combination of melodies, harmonies, rhythms etc. I don't need to know much about it's background to have an emotional response to it.
(flimflam_machine, Wed 5 Jan 2011, 14:14, Reply)